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A night when being outshot and terrible on faceoffs didn’t lead to defeat.

A late-game error that didn’t cost the game.

And a dicey referee’s call that went their way after what seemed like weeks of goals, non-goals, penalty decisions and supplementary discipline results that didn’t.

Yes, all of that would nicely sum up Thursday evening for the Maple Leafs.

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The night also included a victory, a rare occurrence over the past month, when overblown expectations by many for this hockey club have deteriorated into frustration and irritation.

Leafs goalie James Reimer (34) makes a blocker save on the Coyotes' Mikkel Boedker during the second period Thursday night at the Air Canada Centre.
(David Cooper / Toronto Star) | Order this photo

Six days before Christmas, then, a very welcome present landed on the laps of Randy Carlyle, Dave Nonis and the rest of organization in the form of a 2-1 shootout victory over the Phoenix Coyotes.

The generous glow from this gift may only last as long as 48 hours, may only produce a sense of satisfaction among Leaf Nation until the results come in from Saturday night’s Winter Classic preview with Detroit.

But hey, that’s Toronto. A passionate hockey town — and often, an unrealistic one.

Two wins, two losses, 10 goals for, 10 goals against, and a team still in possession of an Eastern Conference playoff berth.

Good team? Bad team? Interesting team, to say the least.

Troy Bodie, the son-in-law of MLSE’s chief executive officer, himself had an interesting night. He backhanded home the rebound of a Cody Franson shot late in the first period, his first goal as a Leaf, and then was nailed to the bench thereafter.

“It was good to get that goal . . . despite the ice time,” said Bodie, who received only three shifts all night.

“We’ve been stressing (going to the net and being aggressive) and we did that on that goal, we got the puck in deep and two guys were on it right away. The third guy joined in and we were able to put it in.”

Carlyle, you could tell, felt badly about giving Bodie and fourth-liners Jerred Smithson and Jerry D’Amigo so little ice time.

Well, a little badly.

“I didn’t reward them much after that goal,” he said. “They (Coyotes) didn’t play their fourth line, so do we play ours?”

That goal looked like it might be enough until Carl Gunnarsson’s brain cramp began a sequence that led to a wraparound goal from Phoenix centre Martin Hanzal with 4:52 left in the third, and ultimately led to overtime and then the shootout.

In the shootout, Leaf winger James van Riemsdyk went first. His backhand move slipped under Coyotes goalie Mike Smith, and Smith appeared to slide all the way into his net.

But no sign of the puck. And, seemingly, no sign from referee Rob Martell. And Smith refused to budge to reveal any incriminating evidence.

Replays didn’t prove it was or wasn’t a goal, since the puck wasn’t visible. It seemed obviously to be a goal, yet concrete evidence wasn’t forthcoming.

What to do?

Martell finished a conference with the NHL command centre, stepped back and said the “call on the ice stands” and declared it to be a good goal.

That sort of made sense — except for the fact there didn’t seem to have been an initial call — although it definitely made Phoenix coach Dave Tippett rather angry.

Just a win, one imagines. Period and end of sentence.

Now comes a Saturday date with their Winter Classic foes from Detroit, a chance to set the stage for a much anticipated event at The Big House.

At any rate, Mikkel Boedker quickly tied it, and then after Mason Raymond and Radim Vrbata missed, Joffrey Lupul snapped a sizzling wrist shot past Smith. That left it to James Reimer one-on-one with Antoine Vermette, and it was all Reimer, who was officially credited with 34 saves and the win.

After years of seemingly being haunted by shootouts, the Leafs are now 5-2 this season and 4-0 at home. Overall, they’ve scored nine times on 18 shots, while allowing only six goals on 20 shots.

Without those shootout wins, imagine where this season would be.

David Clarkson made a couple of timely defensive plays in the third and had one of his better nights. Overall, the Leafs battled for every inch of ice with a disciplined Phoenix squad at a time when many seem to believe every Western Conference team is better than every Eastern Conference squad.

Phoenix outshot the Leafs 35-27, and won 60 per cent of the draws. But the Leafs have been confounding the stats geeks all season, and did so again by virtue of Reimer’s fine netminding and by winning the part of the competition — the shootout — in which puck possession isn’t an issue.

A formula for long-term success? Who knows. But good enough for success on this night, which was more than good enough for a Leaf team that has been struggling to see daylight for a while now.

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